


En Pointe

by dannihowell (iguessicantry)



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-30
Updated: 2016-07-30
Packaged: 2018-07-27 15:19:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7623829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iguessicantry/pseuds/dannihowell
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A recently divorced Phil meets Dan at his daughter’s dance class.</p>
            </blockquote>





	En Pointe

The class had already and Leah glared at her father formaking her late to her dance class. She hated to be late. Her father, Dan, rolled his eyes at his overdramatic seven year old before signing her in. Once he was done, he handed her ballet bag, and told her to have fun.

She was already in the studio before he could even say ‘See you later.’

Dan joined the other parents with hesitation. This particular studio even had coffee and pastries for the parents while the waited for their children to finish. Most of the other parents were mothers. For the first month Dan and Leah came here about two years ago, the flirting was almost overwhelming. It stopped, of course, when Leo joined them one Saturday morning. The way he wrapped his arm around Dan’s shoulder made it very clear that Dan was his. The bolder mothers even asked if he was gay as opposed to the other sexualities. They sighed when he nodded awkwardly.

Dan grabbed a cup of coffee before taking a seat in front of the massive window into the classroom. He could see Leah stretching and talking to her friends. There was girl sat next to her whom Dan did not recognize at all.

They call moved on to their exercises and then into the routine they had been practicing for the annual Christmas pageant. Leah twirled and fell. Dan almost shot up out of his seat to see to her but his daughter was strong. She laughed and brushed herself off. She twirled again, this time completing the move.

Dan figured she got her poise and skill from her birth parents. Neither he nor his husband were particularly good at standing on two feet much less dancing competitively like she did.

Once class was over, Leah grabbed her things and ran to find her father.

“Daddy, I got it! I got the whole routine. Madame says that not even her older students could do what I did!” Leah told him excitedly. Dan kissed her on the cheek, telling her how proud he was.

“And I made a new friend,” the girl added on, taking her frizzy hair out of its bun as it often gave her a headache after class. She turned around in a world wind looking for her friend. “Camryn! Camryn, my dad wants to meet you.”

The dark-haired girl Dan saw his daughter talking to earlier was now stood in front of him, staring at the ground. “Hello, Camryn,” Dan smiled kneeling down. “My name is Dan. It’s nice to meet you.”

The girl looked up tentatively with watery blue eyes, then put out her hand. “Nice to meet you too.”

“She has two dads too!” Leah informed him.

“Yeah, ‘cept they’re divorced now,” she said sadly.

Dan frowned. “I’m sorry to hear that. Is one of them here now? I’d like to meet him.”

Camryn looked around the big room, still filled with parents and children packing up to go. She smiled brightly all of sudden and waved to someone across the room.

A tall man, with similarly colored hair, approached them. “Camryn, I was looking for you.”

“Sorry, Papa,” Camryn frowned. She took his hand and promptly tried to herself in his shirt.

“I’m not angry,” her father said. “Who’s this?”

“Leah and her dad…”

“Dan,” the other man answered. “Dan Howell.”

“Phil.”

“So you’re new to this studio, right?” Dan asked.

“Yeah,” Phil nodded. “We used to be at Great Moves but the owner was a bit…”

“Insane?” Dan prompted, with a laugh. “I heard a lot about that place. We got lucky here though. It’s Leah’s second home.”

“I was hoping to find somewhere for Cam to get out of her shell. She’s a bit shy if you couldn’t tell.”

“Madame is great teacher.” Dan brought his voice little lower before saying, “She’s a bit eccentric but in a ‘loving grandma’ kinda way.”

“Great,” Phil laughed. “Hey, we were about to get lunch. Do you have want to come along, maybe? The girls seem to have become fast friends.” At that moment, Leah was making Camryn laugh by tickling her.

“What do you say, Leah? Maybe some burgers or something?”

The girls led their fathers out the door and off to lunch.

—–

A few weeks later, during class, Dan said, “I recognized you the moment I saw you, I just couldn’t place your face to a name.”

“Maybe you watched my YouTube channel?”

“What channel?” Dan asked, suddenly intrigued.

“Twoandone.”

“You are Twoandone?” Dan replied, shocked. “I used to watch your videos all the time!”

“Yeah. A lot of people did for some reason,” Phil shrugged with a smile.

“You were good, man. I like those videos a lot. I was really sad when you stopped making them.”

“Yeah well, it was hard to be a lifestyle vlogger when your husband was cheating on you with half the city. I couldn’t exactly tell people how to live when my life was such a mess.”

Dan nodded in understanding. “You know, that’s not true, right? You videos were mostly about parenting and homemaking.”

“Yeah, but people were already asking why Ken wasn’t in my videos anymore.”

“Oh that’s right,” Dan sighed. “People suck.”

“They didn’t mean to do it.”

“Still.”

Phil smiled. “Thanks. Who’s your lucky guy? I’ve been wondering.”

Dan’s face fell and he looked away. “He’s never around. Leah barely knows him. I kinda understand how you feel. I know what it’s like.”

Phil didn’t ask any more questions out of respect of his friend.

——

“Camryn Isabelle, stop jumping on the bed,” Phil warned her. “You too, Leah.”

The girls groaned and sat down. They wore matching pajamas, ready for the first sleepover. Dan and Phil were going out and thought it would be best to have one babysitter, Phil’s niece, Zoe.

Phil kissed Camryn on the forehead and hugged them both goodnight. “Be good for Zoe, like always, okay? I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Have fun!” Leah giggled, as Camryn hit her with a heart shaped pillow.

——-

All the mothers at the studio thought it was adorable the way Dan and Phil latched on to one another. The adorable little girls were practically inseparable too.

Somehow Dan and Phil had managed to start something new, something neither of them had anticipated. They kissed for the first time under mistletoe and danced for the first time beneath falling snow.

——-

Leah was off her game. Phil could tell the moment she paused during a move like she forgot how to do it. Dan was nowhere to be found.

After class, Dan still didn’t appear. He didn’t answer his phone or reply to any text messages. Knowing where they lived, Phil packed up the girls and headed to Dan’s place.

Dan’s car was parked in the drive way. Phil thought it was strange that he was home instead of at the studio but pushed the thought out of his head. Leah, more tired than she normally was after practice, lethargically slung her bag over her shoulder. She moved slowly up the walk way behind Phil, who was pushing the doorbell.

A few minutes later, a man wearing only a pair of track pants answered. He smiled when he saw Leah and placed a hand on her head. “Hey, bumblebee. How was class?”

“Bad, Daddy.”

Phil’s heart stopped. This was the man Dan said was never around. If he was honest, Phil was intimidated by him. Leo was apparently athletic. His hair was dark like Phil’s but his skin was tanned, not pale. His jawline and nose were those typical of models.

Leah stomped her way into the house, leaving Phil at the door way. “And you are?” Leo asked politely, holding out his hand.

“Phil. My daughter’s in the same class as Leah.”

“Oh, that’s right. Dan told me. I’m Leo. I’m sorry this is our first time meeting. I’m always out of the country on assignment. Just got back this morning.”

“Oh.” Phil nodded, still shocked by the whole thing. “You just got back and you haven’t gone home?”

Leo furrowed his brow. “I am home,” he said questioningly.

“I’m sorry. I’m a bit confused, excuse me. You live here?”

“Yeah.”

“With Dan and your daughter?”

“Yeah. We’ve been married for almost thirteen years, why wouldn’t we live together?”

Phil bit his lip. He took a deep breath. “It was nice meeting you. Tell Dan I stopped by.”

“Alright. No problem.”

——

Phil received a text from Dan to meet up at the coffee shop they loved.

“You’re still married.”

“I know.”

“And he looked like you had just had sex.”

“I know,” Dan answered again. “It’s not what you think.”

“So you’re not in a committed relationship with another person, with whom you have a child?”

“It’s not committed.”

“It’s open?”

“No, it’s falling apart. Okay? This is what he does. He goes and leaves me for months a time to go to god knows where and I’m supposed to just sit at home like happy housewife.”

“You’re cheating on him. Do you know how despicable that is? How could you do that to him? To Leah?” Phil said angrily.

“Leave her out of this. She’s well taken care of. I do my best to make sure she never feels alone in the world. He promised he would help me but he doesn’t. He doesn’t love me anymore. We just have sex out of sheer convenience.”

“Then, you cheated on me.”

“We aren’t exclusive,” Dan rebutted.

Phil scoffed. “You have a whole section in my closet. You’re always at my house. Our kids are always together. Exclusivity was implied.”

“You can’t imply that, Phil. Look, I really like you and I don’t want this to end.”

“Do you know what it’s like to find out the man you love is cheating on you? To know that people are sneaking around your back and telling lies to your face? I do! My husband slept with half the city then told me he wanted a divorce on a post-it note. He didn’t even asked for Camryn. He let me have her, no problem.”

“Phil…” Dan mumbled, speechless.

“You are just like him. I can’t do this anymore.”

“I didn’t have anyone else,” Dan explained, tears brimming at his eyes. “You were there and you were so nice. I told you I know what it’s like. My husband’s been cheating on me with his job. I’m lucky to see him six months out of the bloody year.”

“That isn’t the same and you know it!”

Phil stood up, walked out, and never once looked back.

——

Feet pointed. Arms straight. Focus.

Camryn looked in the small crowd for him. Seven years later she knew she wouldn’t see him. Her papa never came to see her dance anymore.

**Author's Note:**

> follow me on tumblr  
> [dannihowell](https://danni-howell.tumblr.com/)


End file.
